


burning bright right till the end (now you'll be missing from the photographs)

by likelightninginabottle



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Declarations Of Love, Hunters, M/M, Oh I'll Tell You All About It When I See You Again, Post-Canon, Sad, The Strength We Give Others When We Are Losing Our Own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28555227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likelightninginabottle/pseuds/likelightninginabottle
Summary: "Jesus,"Liam sighs, scrubbing a hand over his bruised face, the sudden quiet of the hallway making his ears ring. "That was almostclose."Theo laughs a little, shaky. "Yeah," he replies, shaking his head, but his back is still to Liam, watching the hunter carefully. "Hey, do me a favor, would you?" Theo asks, before he looks over his shoulder at Liam, catches his eyes, solemn. "Promise me you won't give up," he says, and Liam's mind goesblank.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 46
Kudos: 112





	burning bright right till the end (now you'll be missing from the photographs)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't ever expect to write a fic like this. But it came to me last night, and I had to get it down today morning.
> 
> It's not very long, but you might need some tissues. I'm not entirely sure.
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.

Liam pitches himself forward, rolling onto Theo's back in order to flip over him, and kick a hunter in the chest with a force that makes him fall to the floor, the wind knocked out of his body.

They're clearing out the hallway the way they've cleared out every hallway since that time at Beacon Hills Memorial, a whirlwind of flashing eyes and fangs, two synchronized supernaturals flipping off the ground, the walls, each _other_. It's been months, _years_ since then, and Monroe is dead, but the muscle memory still remains. The rest of the pack are around _somewhere_ , he can hear the muted shots of Stiles's pistol, Lydia's screaming, Scott and Malia's growling, but all of that is drowned out by the sound of _them_ , the sound of their heavy panting and steady, synced-up heartbeats, the sound of Liam hitting a hunter in the temple with his own gun, and Theo punching another one in the nose, the sound of Liam's sneakers scuffing the linoleum and the click of Theo taking the bullets out of the chamber.

They're down to the last one, just one man, with a machine gun.

Liam moves to grab it out of his hands, but he's clearly determined to go down fighting, positioning his finger on the trigger, but before Liam can move further forward, Theo's stepping in front of him, only allowing the hunter to get in a couple seconds of firing before Theo kicks his kneecap out, and swipes the gun from him.

" _Jesus,"_ Liam sighs, scrubbing a hand over his bruised face, the sudden quiet of the hallway making his ears ring. "That was almost _close."_

Theo laughs a little, shaky. "Yeah," he replies, shaking his head, but his back is still to Liam, watching the hunter carefully. "Hey, do me a favor, would you?" Theo asks, before he looks over his shoulder at Liam, catches his eyes, solemn. "Promise me you won't give up," he says, and Liam's mind goes _blank._

"Theo?" Liam asks, but Theo still doesn't turn around. "What--" Liam manages, around a mouth that’s suddenly _completely_ dry, a gut-twisting kind of panic _flooding_ his stomach. "What are you _talking_ about?"

Theo turns, slowly, and Liam registers the _smell_ , before anything else. The metallic stench that coats the back of his tongue, makes him _gag_ , and that's when he sees the blood seeping through Theo's shirt, his jeans, _everywhere,_ and his heart _stops_ , right there in his chest.

A couple seconds of firing with a machine gun. A machine gun fires too many rounds per second to be anything but _fatal_ that close up. This is something Liam should've _realized_ , but didn't up until this very second.

He _lurches_ into Theo, moving to press his hands to his chest, stop the bleeding, _fix_ this, and Theo makes a move forward of his own, except that's when his knees give in, legs buckling, but Liam catches him, cushions his fall until they both hit the ground, sprawled on the floor in an undignified heap.

"Promise me--" Theo says, voice hoarse as he licks his lips. There's blood on them, and Liam hears a steady, distressed, whining noise, and almost _startles_ when he realizes it's coming from _him_. "No, _hey,"_ Theo says quietly, hand coming to rest over Liam's where it's pressed to Theo's ribs, trying to staunch some of the worst of it. Theo squeezes his hand carefully. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself," Theo says, blinking a little quick, and making a pained noise when Liam's grip gets a little _too_ tight on him, and Liam stops squeezing _immediately._ "Take care of the pack."

" _Shut up,"_ Liam growls, scrabbling at his shirt in order to tear the fabric apart, and see what he's working with. "Shut the _fuck up_ , you're _not dying."_

He gets his shirt open, and then _stares._ There are too many to count, and Liam feels sick, almost, right underneath the _crushing despair_ , the _paralyzing helplessness._

"You're going to be _amazing_ , alright? You're going to see the _world_ ," he says, before he's interrupted by a violent coughing fit, one that sprays blood all over the tile, all over _Liam_ , but Liam barely even registers it. Theo settles back down, right into Liam's arms, brings a shaky hand to Liam's face, and strokes his fingers across the line of Liam's jaw. " _Mykonos_ and _Cairo_ and _New Delhi_ and," he says, a smile quirking the corner of his mouth, "all the places that we talked about, you're still going to go. Because I've never met a _single person_ in my _life_ , who sees the world like you do. Sees the beauty in _culture_ , in _history_. In _anything_ , really," he laughs a little, but even _that_ sounds pained. "Even the ugly, broken things."

" _No,"_ Liam breathes, hands running down Theo's torso like _that'll_ help anything, only succeeding in getting his palms soaked with Theo's blood. "No, no, _no."_

" _Liam,"_ Theo whispers, but it's so quiet that Liam barely even hears him, a steady litany of _no, no, no_ bleeding from his mouth as he roves his hands across Theo's body _desperately_ , looking for a solution to the bullet holes in Theo's body, a solution to the blood slowly seeping out, but Theo runs his fingers across Liam's cheekbone, gentle, looking up at him imploringly, half of his mouth still quirked in a small smile, eyes wet.

Liam's arms are _wrapped_ around his body, cradling it, feeling bare skin on every inch of his arms as he thinks, _he's in too much pain to heal himself,_ tries to draw as much as he can from Theo's body, but he's unable to take _anything_ at all. " _Why--"_ he barely manages, voice cracking _horribly_ , " _Why can't I take your pain?"_

"You _know_ why," Theo replies, and Liam's shaking his head, almost _violently_ , nothing running through his mind except, _no, no, no,_ which is most of what comes out of his _mouth_ too. "Shh, it's _okay,_ " Theo says, but Liam keeps shaking his head, eyes burning, stomach turning, because _nothing_ about this is okay. Nothing is even _close_ to okay, and Liam doesn't think anything will ever be okay again. "It doesn't hurt, anymore," Theo whispers, blinking slowly, and Liam feels some desperate noise being ripped from his throat that, really, can't be anything but a _sob._

" _Theo,"_ he rasps, eyes stinging as his heart twists and twists and twists _painfully_ in his chest. "Theo, _please--"_

"Liam, it hit my _femoral_ ," he says quietly, with a kind of _certainty_ , a kind of _resignation_ that makes Liam's breath catch in his throat, Theo's fingers brushing wavering lines down the jut of Liam's cheek. "They didn't have wolfsbane in them, but there's too many," he says, and Liam can't help himself, he cups Theo's stupid, beautiful face in his palm, runs his thumb over his bruised cheekbone, and Theo's hand comes up to hold his hand there, like Liam would _ever_ let go. "I don't have much time left," Theo whispers, and the front of his body is _entirely_ coated with blood now, and Liam's hands are shaking so hard he can barely even _hold him_ , but he wraps his arms tighter.

" _Theo,"_ he says, voice breaking, and he can't stop the tears from welling up and rolling down his cheeks, and he doesn’t even _know_ what he's going to say, doesn't even know what he _wants_ to say, what he _needs_ to say, there's too much he wants to tell Theo, wants to share with him, wants to rip himself apart and dig up the darkness and place it in Theo's warm, sure hands for safekeeping, because they were supposed to have _time._

"I _know_ ," Theo replies, hoarse, his _own_ voice breaking as a tear starts rolling down _his_ face, spilling down his temple and dropping onto the floor, marking a clean path through the grime coating his face, and Theo squeezes Liam's hand where it's still cupping his face. He clenches his eyes shut _tight_ , for just one second, and when he opens them, his eyes are steady. Sure. He brings one hand up to brush the teardrops from Liam's face, gentle, and it does nothing but make Liam cry _harder._

"You're going to be a teacher, like you always wanted," Theo says, quiet but sure, _firm_ , "and you're going to be _incredible_ , you're going to change _lives."_

"We were supposed to have _time,"_ Liam chokes out, burying his face into Theo's neck and breathing and breathing and _breathing_ , and even though the smell of Theo is the _same_ , it's almost impossible to ignore the smell of death, gunpowder, blood surrounding them, and he buries his face in _harder_ , nuzzling into the line of his throat. "After _everything,_ we _deserved_ to have more time."

"I _know,"_ Theo replies, and Liam _feels_ it vibrate through his throat, can't help but drop a soft kiss on his Adam's apple, bringing both hands up to cup Theo's face.

Liam swallows, eyes locked on Theo's, blinking the tears out in order to clear his vision. "I never got to tell you that I--"

"I _know,_ Liam," Theo says, looking _incredibly_ pained, and Liam doesn't think it's from the puddle of blood forming around them.

_Real pain is emotional pain._

" _I love you,"_ Liam chokes out, pressing his forehead to Theo's, desperation coating every word that comes out of his mouth, every breath that he manages to drag in, and then back out, even though it _feels_ like he's not breathing at _all,_ like he _can't_ breathe. "I've _always_ loved you. I'm _sorry_ I never said, but--"

"I _know_ , sweetheart," Theo whispers, and _another_ punched-out sob escapes Liam's chest. "We were supposed to have more time. A lot more. I was going to--"

He's cut off by a horribly pained gasp, as he clutches his hand to his chest, and Liam's hands _spasm_ , trying to do the same, trying to _help_ , _somehow._

"I was going to _tell you_ ," Theo gasps out, fingers spasming above his heart. "Soon, I think. And, if I was a better person, I wouldn't tell you _now_. It's a hell of a burden," Theo says solemnly, "the words of a dying man," and Liam's fingers reach out to tangle with Theo's as he cries, both shaking, coated in blood, but _warm_. They fit right together, and Liam's heart _aches_. "But I'm so, so selfish," Theo says, squeezing Liam's hand, and bringing another one up to brush the tears from his face, to tuck a piece of Liam's hair behind his ear.

" _No--"_ Liam protests, but Theo's already nodding.

"I _am,"_ he insists, "because I'm going to tell you anyways." He sighs, hands gripping Liam like a _lifeline_ , an anchor point, and his eyes are _fixed_ on Liam's, and Liam can't look away. "For what it's worth," Theo says, thumb brushing across Liam's knuckles, " _I love you too_."

" _Theo_ ," Liam chokes out, desperate. _We were supposed to have more time._

"I didn't even know if I _could_ love someone, actually," Theo continues, undeterred, even as the blood leaks from his mouth, a small smile playing around the corner of his lips, "until I met _you_. You were the first person in my _life_ to give me a chance, did you know that?" He turns his head into Liam's hand, drops a soft kiss on his palm, and Liam cries _harder_. It feels like every part of his body is tearing itself apart, all at once, like he's coming apart at the seams completely. "I don't think," Theo says, smile widening a bit as he looks up at Liam, eyes terribly, heartbreakingly _soft_ , "that it was possible for me to be anything _but_ totally, completely in love. I never thought I would get to have this, you know? Any of it."

Liam can't say anything, can't seem to make his mouth work and fit around the vowels of anything besides an aching, pathetic, " _We were supposed to have more time."_

"I really thought we would get our chance," Theo says, shaking his head a little, and Liam wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth with the tips of his fingers, "after everything, but," He tilts his head, pressing himself harder into Liam's hands, "maybe we were only ever going to be an _almost."_

 _We wasted so much_ time, Liam can't help but think, because they didn't so much _fall_ in love as stumble vaguely downwards, hand in hand, an unspoken kind of tension between them getting thicker and _thicker_ over the years as they _both_ tried to work up the nerve to make the first move.

Liam drops his head into Theo's chest, and _sobs. "Please,"_ he tries, throat _entirely_ closed up, " _please, please, please_ don't--"

"You're the love of my life, I'm pretty sure," Theo says firmly, _steady_. "Even if it hadn't gone down like this, you still would've been."

Liam's heart breaks, right there in his chest, fractures and splinters until there's nothing left, until he just feels _hollow. "I--"_

"Don't let _me_ be _yours,"_ Theo pleads, tipping Liam's head back up so that he can meet his eyes, searching Liam's face with a kind of _desperation_ that makes Liam hurt all over.

"Too _late,"_ Liam replies, and then he presses his mouth to Theo's, and Liam feels _harsh, demanding_ , but the kiss is slow and sweet, Theo arching up to press against him harder, licking leisurely into Liam's mouth like they have all the time in the world, and it tastes like salt and tears and sweat and _blood_ , but mostly, it tastes like _them._ It's their first kiss, and it lights Liam up from the inside-out, before Theo pulls back reluctantly, eyes flicking between Liam's own.

"Don't let this drag you down, hold you back, okay? Put yourself out there," Theo says, fingers twisting in Liam's shirt, and then he presses his mouth to Liam's again, searching, and Liam _gives_ it to him, gives him what he's looking for, gives him everything he _has_ , everything he _is_ , right there in the middle of the dark, quiet corridor, grasping at him _desperately_ , even as he feels him slipping from his fingers, pulse weak and thready. Theo pulls back again, panting, and Liam has to make an _effort_ not to chase the warmth of his soft mouth, not to lean back in and _take_ what's _his_ , what _should've_ been _his_ , what the universe is trying to rip from his hands _. "_ See the _world_ ," Theo pleads, "live your _life_ ," he leans back in, brushing his lips against Liam's, chaste, and Liam _surges_ into him, slotting his lips with Theo's, pressing into him so hard that he can _feel_ the blood leaking into his _own_ clothes, can feel every breathe Theo takes like it's one of his own, can feel every beat of his slowing, borrowed heart. Theo pulls back again, hand stroking down Liam's flank, soothing. "Fall in _love,"_ Theo implores quietly, voice breaking, and Liam thinks wildly, _How?_

Thinks, _you don't_ have _my heart. You_ are _my heart._

"You're the _strongest_ person I know," Theo says, and he reaches up to feel Liam's face, fingers spasming on his cheek, and Liam can hear his pulse getting weaker, can feel his own heart _racing_ , vision going dark at the edges. "You're strong enough to get through _this._ This isn't your fault, okay?" Theo says, tone going urgent. "I need you to remember that. This is _my choice_ , and I would make it _again_." His fingers flex on Liam's face, brush against the skin around his eyes, stroking, as he whispers, "I would do all of it, _all over again._ " He smiles, bright and wide, and he's so _beautiful_ , even with the blood on his teeth and the bruises on his face, that it physically _hurts_ to look at him. "So don't you _dare_ blame yourself for this."

 _Too late,_ Liam doesn't repeat.

Theo stepped in front of Liam and took the heat for him, and now Theo is dying in his arms. It's that simple.

 _This is going to destroy me_ , Liam realizes, with a sharp, adrenaline-fueled kind of clarity. _This is going to tear me apart. This is going to kill me._

"I _love you,"_ Liam pleads, because it's all that he can manage to force around the lump in his throat, as he clutches at Theo's body steadily losing strength in his arms. "I _love_ you so, _so_ much. The _pack_ loves you."

"This isn't a _goodbye_ ," Theo promises, with a wink. "It's a _good luck._ We'll see each other again, okay? Not for a long time, hopefully, but--"

Liam snorts wetly, shaking his head. "I thought you were an atheist."

"I _am_ ," Theo replies, the corner of his mouth flickering up. "I don't believe in _God_ , I believe in _us_." He leans in to peck Liam's mouth, but Liam follows him back, chases the taste of his mouth, and kisses him and kisses him and kisses him until his head spins, Theo's tongue moving _desperately_ , feverishly against his own. "We always seem to find our way back to each other," Theo breathes, once they part. He quirks a small grin. "You ever get the feeling that we've done this before? Been here before?"

Liam smiles back, watery. "All the time."

Theo nudges his nose against Liam's, presses their foreheads together. "Then we'll do it _again,"_ he whispers. "I _love_ you," Theo says, looking right into Liam's eyes, right into _Liam_ , and his hands are just _resting_ on Liam's face, not gripping anymore, and Liam's veins run _cold_ , when he realizes that's because he's lost feeling in them. Theo's body is slowly going more and more lax in his hold.

"I love you, Theo Raeken," Liam chokes out, gripping tighter as Theo's hold gets _looser,_ "I love you, and I _always will."_

"You were the best thing that ever happened to me, Liam," Theo says quietly, blinking getting a little slower as his heart gets even _weaker._ " _Never_ doubt that."

" _Theo,"_ Liam begs, pressing their foreheads together, feeling Theo's warm skin against his own.

Theo smiles, small and sweet and genuine. "Give 'em hell, sweetheart," he whispers, and then his heart doesn't beat anymore.

Theo's body goes limp in his hands, and the last vestiges of gold drain from his eyes. Theo Raeken dies in a cold, dark corridor, and a piece of Liam dies with him.

 _I love you,_ Liam thinks, half-numb as he presses his lips to Theo's sweaty forehead.

 _We were supposed to have more time_ , he thinks, as he finally lets loose the howl that's been building in his chest since Theo collapsed into his arms, fills it with the grief and pure, _crushing anguish_ that pours out of him, that threatens to tear him apart completely.

_We were supposed to have more time._

_Give 'em hell_ , Theo had said.

"I _will_ ," Liam promises, eyes flaring through the burning tears as he brushes the hair out of Theo's unseeing eyes, and shuts his eyelids with gentle brushes of Liam's fingertips. " _I will."_

And he does.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I usually specialize in the 'angst with a happy ending' brand, but I couldn't get this out of my head. I'm glad I got it written down, and I'll probably never write something like this again, but, for what it's worth, it was very cathartic.
> 
> Tell me what you liked, what you didn't!! As always, all feedback is welcomed and highly appreciated :)  
> If you want to come scream at me on tumblr, feel free to find me at [inabottlelikelightning](https://www.inabottlelikelightning.tumblr.com/)


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